


Even if We’re Hopeless, at Least We’re Not Alone

by madsthenerdygirl



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: (oh my god they were roommates), F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Jessica Logan is Having Too Much Fun, Light Angst, Lucy Your Family Sucks, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Not You Amy, Polyamory, With Much Commentary From the Peanut Gallery, You're an Angel and We're Lucky to Have You, and they were ROOMMATES
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-16 06:59:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14806553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madsthenerdygirl/pseuds/madsthenerdygirl
Summary: Lucy Preston needs a date to help piss off her family. Asking her roommate Flynn, the troll king of pissing people off, should be a safe bet, right?It has nothing to do with her feelings for him, right?And she's got a handle on her crush on her other roommate Wyatt, right? Who's definitely not going to be pissed about this whole thing, right?...right?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was taken from a prompt given to extasiswings that combined the Fake Dating trope with the Mutually Pining Roommates trope. She provided the setup but then graciously let me run with it from there.

Lucy knew that something was up the moment she sat down at the table because Amy had that swallowed-a-lemon look on her face.

“What.”

Amy breathed carefully through her nose. “So. Um. Grandpa’s birthday is coming up.”

Lucy grabbed a bread roll with a bit more viciousness (okay, a lot more viciousness) than she needed to. Grandpa Nicholas was a goddamn thorn in her side and always had been. The less she heard about him, the better.

“You’re not going to be able to get out of this one, Lucy,” Amy told her.

“Is this why you asked me to brunch?”

“No, I asked you to brunch before I heard about this. Mom just texted me this morning.”

“Why’d she text you?”

“Probably because she knows you wouldn’t answer.”

The thing was, Lucy and Mom had been close. They’d even written a couple of history books together. But then last year, Mom had told Lucy that the man she’d called her father her entire life—the man who had raised her, the man she’d mourned four years ago—wasn’t actually her biological father.

Turned out, her biological father was Benjamin Cahill, her grandfather’s lawyer, and the man that the entire Preston clan originally had wanted Lucy’s mom to marry.

There’d been a lot of yelling, and somewhere along the way it had mutated from “you lied to me my whole life” to “your side of the family are a bunch of stuck up, entitled, bigoted pricks and I hate them all.”

…things had kind of been awkward since.

Amy had sort of been forced into the role of peacekeeper. Which was ironic, seeing as she and Mom had never been nearly as close as Lucy had once been with her mother. But Amy had never been as welcomed by Mom’s side of the family as Lucy had been (and now they knew why) and so her status as an outsider kind of made it easier for her to deal with them. At least she didn’t have to put up with the cloying attempts to bring her back into the fold or constant remarks about how she was failing the family legacy and could do better, etc.

“I’m not going,” Lucy told her. “I have a thing.”

“You have a thing.”

“Yup.”

“Lucy, you can’t keep avoiding them.” Amy’s eyes were sympathetic, but her voice was firm. “The thing you gotta do is show up and show them how much you don’t care about what they think.”

“I can’t.” Not until she actually had something to rub in their faces. She’d just gotten her tenure meeting cancelled—thanks David, you bastard—and she still didn’t have a boyfriend (or a girlfriend, for that matter) and she just. She wanted to swan in with something good. Something that said, _hey, look at how well I’m doing without any of the family money and without any of your ‘assistance’, choke on it and die you bastards._

She really, really hated Mom’s side of the family.

“Well they’re going to give you even more shit if you don’t show up than if you do,” Amy pointed out.

Lucy groaned and resisted the urge to dramatically thump her head on the table.

Amy was right, of course. She usually was about these kinds of things.

“Why can’t I just be accepted as the family black sheep and be ignored like you are?” Lucy asked.

“Because your lot in life is to be a martyr and you play the part so beautifully,” Amy replied, smiling as their waiter approached.

Lucy wanted to protest that, but then they had to order and by that time Amy had changed tactics.

“You know what else they’re going to do.”

Lucy leveled a glare at her. “Do not say—”

“They’re going to try to set you up with someone.”

Lucy shook her head. “No. Nope. I refuse.”

The thing was, she’d done the family-approved-boyfriend thing. She’d gotten as far as engaged to Noah in college before she’d realized that no matter how great of a guy he was, she just wasn’t ready to settle down.

But of course he’d been everything her mom wanted her to marry: a doctor, rising up through the ranks of a nationally-renowned hospital, came from a high class blue blood family, possible political aspirations, Ivy League educated. And that had been part of why she’d started dating him, and why she’d said yes to his proposal. Because she’d loved him, but she’d also been rushing into things to please her mom and, well, that only would’ve ended in disaster for both her and Noah.

Ever since then, Mom hadn’t shut up about her “letting Noah go” and was hinting at the sons of various friends that Lucy could get with.

Definitely not her cup of tea.

“I’m not sure what’s worse,” Lucy admitted. “The sneering remarks about my not having made tenure yet or the whole ‘east coast colleges are better’ lecture or the hints about dating someone.”

“Well you can take care of that last one at least,” Amy said. Her eyes went wide as her massive waffle was set before her. “Oh, come to Mama.”

“What do you mean?” Lucy’s omelet was set in front of her.

Amy paused in the middle of her all-out assault on her food. “Just get your ass in gear finally with one of those two supermodels you’re living with.”

Lucy gave her a stern look. “First of all…”

“It’s been three years, dead wife excuse is officially used up.”

She sighed. “Second of all…”

“It’s been a year and Jess practically lives there with you guys that’s how on good terms they are, going through a divorce excuse is also used up.”

“Neither of them are interested.”

“Tell me, what did Wyatt do yesterday?”

“…he bought me a book?”

“A signed copy by one of your favorite history writers.”

“So?”

“And what did Flynn do last night?”

“He made us dinner.”

“No, he made your favorite steak marinade. _Just because_.”

“They’re my roommates!” Lucy protested. “We’re all best friends, can’t we do nice things for each other just because we want to?”

“They want to bang you,” Amy declared around a gigantic mouthful of waffle.

“My sister is a five-year-old,” Lucy muttered.

Amy continued to dig into her waffle with relish. “Look, they’re clearly both interested in you. And why wouldn’t they be? You’re hot, you’re intelligent, you give off those dominant vibes and they’re both subs if I’ve ever seen one…”

“Amy!” Lucy hissed. “We are in _public_.”

“I could get more explicit,” Amy said, unfazed. “Admit it, you want to eat them both alive.”

“That’s the problem,” Lucy shot back before she could stop herself.

A grin of pure, evil delight spread over her sister’s face. “Oh? Do tell.”

Lucy could feel herself blushing and told herself that kicking her sister was juvenile and she was above such things. “It’s just—I couldn’t ask either of them out.”

“Because you don’t want just one, you want both.” Amy looked like her birthday and Christmas and a cop stripper had all arrived on the same day.

Lucy thought about protesting, but she’d always been horrible at lying to her sister. But at least she was a better liar than Wyatt, who absolutely sucked at it up to and including simple things like _no I totally vacuumed like I promised_.

She slumped in her seat. “Okay. Fine. Yes, I have… feelings for both of them.”

“You’re in loooooooove… ow!”

Lucy wanted to make a point of order that your Honor, nobody actually _saw_ her behave like a ten-year-old and kick her sister under the table.

“Wow, you’re cranky when you’re not getting laid,” Amy said, rubbing at her shin. “Look, from what I’ve seen? I think they’d be okay sharing you.”

“I’m not even touching that.”

“It would be a hell of a way to piss off the family. Hey, guess what, I’ve got _two_ boyfriends. One of them’s from white trash and the other one’s from Eastern Europe, oh and he’s a bit of an anarchist.” Amy grinned. “That would be _amazing_. I think I’d actually pay to see that happen.”

“Amy…”

“Do you think if I paid them each a hundred bucks they’d do it? I’ll throw in an extra fifty for Wyatt to play up the hick stereotype. Twenty for Flynn if he says, ‘viva la revolution’ and grumbles about the Bolsheviks.”

Lucy stared. “I thought you slept through your Russian Revolutions class.”

“I managed to pick up a thing or two. I think through osmosis.” Unlike the rest of the family, Amy had little to no interest in history and preferred standup comedy specials to the History Channel.

Lucy rolled her eyes but she had to admit, there was some appeal. Flynn, especially, would be awesome at driving her family nuts. And Lucy meant that literally—she’d probably end the evening in awe, as she often did when Flynn got a chance to verbally eviscerate someone.

Wyatt probably wouldn’t work out. He got too easily intimidated and when he got intimidated, he tended to just get cranky and standoffish. He also didn’t have the history knowledge that Flynn did that would grudgingly impress her family.

Actually…

“What,” Amy said. “You’ve got that scheming Slytherin face on.”

“For the last time, I’m a Ravenclaw.”

“There’s a tiny little vicious Slytherin lurking inside of you,” Amy replied. “And someday it shall break free and destroy the patriarchy and it will be a glorious thing to watch.”

Lucy tuned her sister out. Was she actually considering this? Would it actually work?

Just for once, she’d like to rub something in her family’s faces. Just once she wanted to watch them to be bested. She wanted to make them so uncomfortable and upset that they didn’t even know what to do with themselves. She wanted them knocked completely off their high horses.

“What if I took Flynn and said he was my boyfriend?”

Amy paused, a bite of waffle halfway to her mouth. “I think that would be brilliant,” she replied. “But what about Wyatt?”

“As if I’m letting those wolves anywhere near him, they’d tear him to shreds.”

Amy cooed, and Lucy gave her a look that said _seriously_?

“Okay,” Amy said, straightening up. “You’re serious. You want to take Flynn as your date?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Would he really be your date?”

“No?” Lucy replied.

“…I’m seeing a flaw in your logic here,” Amy said. “If you want to be with him then why not make it real?”

“If either he or Wyatt really wanted to be with me then don’t you think one of them would have said something by now? It’s been two years.”

“Damn, that’s a lot of sexual tension.”

“Amy, I’m serious. Look, there have been… a few times where I thought that one or the other of them would say something. Do something. But neither of them ever has. And I have to respect that.”

Her sister shrugged. “All right then.”

“…all right?” Usually Amy put up more of a fight over her opinion of something. Strong opinions were a trait all three Preston women shared.

Amy focused back in on her food, pouring more syrup over her waffle and making Lucy gag in sympathy. “Flynn will definitely provide the family with a verbal ass-kicking and you and me with some quality entertainment. If taking him as your fake boyfriend will help you feel safe and in control at the party, then I say go for it. Do what you gotta do.”

Lucy felt like there was something here that she was missing, but she was way too frustrated and exhausted to figure it out. The very idea of going to another family party alone, without an ally, made her want to stab herself with her fork.

At least then she’d be in the hospital and could miss the party.

“Okay then,” she said.

She’d float the idea by Flynn when she got home. She didn’t see any reason why he’d say no. Flynn’s favorite game was being a little shit and trolling people. One time Lucy had been a bit tipsy and passed out on his bed and the next morning the first words out of his mouth were thanking her for being such a gentle and responsive lover.

Wyatt had nearly laughed himself sick when he’d heard that story.

And if a part of her really liked the idea of pretending that Flynn was her boyfriend, that they were just going to this party and then coming home to where Wyatt was waiting for them, that any touches or whispered exchanges or endearments were real, well…

Lucy figured that was just between herself and her conscience.


	2. Chapter 2

Flynn knew that Lucy had a brunch with Amy that morning, so he wasn’t surprised when he woke up and found her already gone.

He also wasn’t surprised to find Wyatt on the couch again.

Flynn ran a hand through his hair. It had been over a year since the divorce and Wyatt still kept migrating to the couch in the middle of the night, too uncomfortable with not sharing a bed with someone else to stay in it for too long.

He walked over to the kitchen and started up the coffee maker. This was usually when Lucy would emerge from her room, adorable and sleep-rumpled, following the smell of the coffee before she was even properly awake.

Wyatt, however, needed a little more persuasion to wake up.

“How the hell are you even a cop,” Flynn grumbled, grabbing two mugs. “I could murder you in your sleep, you know.”

Wyatt, as usual, did not respond to this.

Lorena had been different from both Lucy and Wyatt. It took Wyatt a good hour and two strong cups of coffee to make him a normal human being who had things like emotions and motor skills. Lucy was always a bit out of it, scatterbrained, but she was cute as fuck and never cranky.

Lorena had been a goddamn fury ready to tear down the entire world order until she got some coffee in her.

It had been long enough now that Flynn could recall this with more joy than pain. Iris… was still more pain than not. He had never understood, when he’d married Lorena, how he could possibly love anyone more than he loved her.

Then Iris had been born and he’d understood completely.

He liked to think that Lorena would understand—how he was able to move on from her before he could move on from their baby girl.

As for forgiving himself… that part, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to do.

Flynn walked over, crouching down in front of Wyatt and waving the cup of coffee under his nose, putting a hand on Wyatt’s shoulder to shake him gently. “Hey, time to get up.”

Wyatt blinked awake, already subconsciously pawing for the coffee. “Wha ti’izzit?”

“It’s ten. Lucy’s out to brunch with Amy.”

“Mmm.”

Flynn couldn’t resist quickly ruffling Wyatt’s hair as he stood up, leaving Wyatt to mumble incoherently and sip his coffee. A rush of affection hit him like a kick right to the sternum, and Flynn grabbed the paper instead to start checking the daily news before he could do something stupid.

And to think, he’d hated the guy when he’d first met him.

After Lorena and Iris, Flynn had been… drifting, was probably the nicest term for it. He’d quit his FBI job—it had been what got his family killed, after all—and had been unsure what to do next, so he’d started taking on private security work. Bodyguard, beefing up company security programs, that sort of thing.

But he hadn’t wanted to live a second more in the house where his wife and daughter had been murdered, and he was self-aware enough to know that he probably shouldn’t be living alone. Not when his gun looked so friendly.

So he’d answered an advertisement put in by a local professor: two roommates wanted, lovely views, must put up with rambling about history and yelling about the laziness of the current generation of students, all genders welcome, serial killers need not apply.

He’d laughed so hard at the advertisement that he’d just had to check it out.

The moment he’d seen Lucy Preston, something inside of him had… he wasn’t even sure. Not come alive, exactly. More like taken root.

They’d gotten coffee and chatted, and he’d quickly realized that this woman was a) a genius, b) clumsy and adorable and c) dangerously beautiful.

But he was an idiot so he’d agreed to be her roommate.

Wyatt Logan had shown up about a week later. He and Lucy got on swimmingly. And Wyatt had a bit of a sob story of his own. He and his wife, Jess, were finally divorcing after some years of counseling, and he needed a place to live now.

Flynn and Wyatt had… issues.

Flynn had literally once told Lucy that the guy was “the personification of toxic masculinity” and he had later learned from Jess, who was now practically their fourth roommate and lived for drama, that Wyatt had once told Lucy that Flynn was “either a psychopath or had multiple personality disorder, or maybe both.”

Yeah. It hadn’t been pretty.

Things had been tense, and Flynn had tried to do what he could to smother any smart remarks or aggressive comments—if only for Lucy’s sake. Lucy, who so clearly liked them both (although Flynn had always suspected she’d liked Wyatt better), and who didn’t deserve to be stuck in the middle of a dick measuring contest.

But things hadn’t really changed until Wyatt had finally brought Jess to meet them. Or, rather, Jess had bullied Wyatt into bringing her to meet them.

She’d shaken Lucy’s hand, and then took one look at Flynn and said,

“Wait. Is he the reason for your sexuality crisis?”

Lucy had almost fallen off of her chair and Flynn had pointed at Jess and said, “I like this one. May we keep her?”

“I’ll just go up to the roof and jump off if nobody minds,” Wyatt had muttered.

That night, Flynn had tried reaching out an olive branch, finding Wyatt while he was brushing his teeth and mentioning his own history with, well, realizing he wasn’t all that picky about who he fell in love with.

Wyatt had gotten embarrassed and admitted that, yes, during couples counseling it had come out, or rather he had, and he’d been kind of (definitely) freaking out about it for the past few weeks.

Flynn had grabbed a couple of beers at that point and they’d ended up talking until Lucy shuffled into the living room in the morning, rubbing at her eyes and going, “you two realize it’s six a.m., right?”

Honestly, Flynn should have realized at that point how very screwed he was.

After that they’d all become friends. Best friends, if Flynn dared to use the term. Although if asked, Lucy would say her best friend was Jiya and Wyatt would say his best friend was Rufus and Flynn would say his best friend was Jess because the look of horror that crossed Wyatt’s face was priceless.

But they did… pretty much everything together. Flynn made them all dinner more often than not. Everyone at the precinct had Flynn and Lucy’s numbers memorized in case Wyatt got hurt on the job. Flynn and Wyatt went to all of Lucy’s department parties. Flynn was pretty sure half of his clients thought he was married to Wyatt and the other half thought he was married to Lucy.

He sometimes had to stop himself from saying, “I wish.”

He was shaken out of his reverie—good thing too because it was starting to take a turn for the maudlin—by Jess sauntering in.

Jessica Logan, as far as Flynn knew, never walked anywhere. She sauntered.

“Good morning!” she said cheerfully.

Wyatt muttered something that sounded like _gggnnnnhhh_ but probably meant, “I regret every day that I gave you a key to this place.”

“How’s my favorite ex-husband?” Jess cooed, snatching a mug from the cupboard and beelining it for the coffee maker. “And how’s my favorite ex-revolutionary? Capitalist lifestyle still treating you well?”

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say you had the red eye shift at the bar,” Flynn deduced.

“What on earth would make you think that,” Jess replied, adding a worrying amount of coffee to the coffee maker. “Got any Red Bull I can add to this?”

“There are easier ways of inducing a heart attack,” Flynn replied dryly.

Wyatt made a vaguely disapproving noise from the couch.

“Where’s your better third?” Jess asked, starting up the coffee maker and then scrounging through the fridge.

“Out to brunch with her sister,” Flynn supplied.

“Y’know, someday I’m going to have to meet this elusive Amy. I’m starting to suspect she doesn’t exist and you all made her up to convince me Lucy actually has one member of her family who doesn’t suck.”

Lucy’s family had been the reason she’d needed two roommates. She’d refused any of their money—and they had a lot of it—and she hadn’t been able to afford her own place on her professor’s salary. Hence: Wyatt and Flynn.

It was a two bedroom, but Lucy had found this cool dividing panel at a thrift shop, and so Flynn and Wyatt shared the master bedroom with the dividing panel between them while Lucy got the smaller room.

There was only one bathroom, though. That had led to plenty of moments of what Flynn fondly liked to call absolute and inhumane torture i.e. running into Wyatt while he was wearing only a towel or stepping into the bathroom right after Lucy had taken a shower and the sandalwood-vanilla smell of her shampoo permeated the space.

“Amy exists,” Flynn told Jess. “I’ve met her. You’d like her.”

Wyatt made a sound that suggested he thought that was a horrifying concept.

The next hour passed peacefully enough. Wyatt slowly returned to the land of the living and coherent thought. Flynn read up on the news, idly wondered if Bane hadn’t had a good point in blowing up the stock exchange, and let Jess do the paper’s sudoku but saved the crossword for Lucy.

Wyatt’s cellphone vibrated. Flynn glanced over at Wyatt, who was staring into his coffee cup like if he did that hard enough and for long enough, more coffee would magically appear in it.

Flynn answered the phone. “Hey, Rufus.”

“Wow, Wyatt, your voice sure is deep today,” Rufus replied. “And you sound Croatian, too, how about that.”

“Good morning to you too. He’s just coming out of his coffee stupor.”

“Only just? He promised me he’d be ready, he’s helping me pick out a ring for Jiya.”

“And you wanted Wyatt’s opinion on this?”

“I know, I also question my friendship with him. Every day. Especially because at least you and Lucy get rewarded for putting up with him. I do not. Nor do I want to be.”

Flynn frowned. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Heeeeeey Rufus!” Wyatt said, snatching the phone from Flynn in a rather impressive display of going from zero to sixty on the awake-ness scale. “What’s up? No, I didn’t forget—” Wyatt mouthed _I forgot_ at Flynn. “—I’m just hopping in the shower. Jess showed up, she distracted me.”

“Blaming me for your personal failures is a part of why I divorced you,” Jess said sweetly.

Wyatt flipped her off. “Yeah, no, I’m just—hey, that's not cool, man—”

Lucy burst in the door, looking a little manic around the eyes. “I hate everything.”

Flynn wordlessly passed her the coffee he’d saved for her.

Lucy gulped it down, then made a waving motion behind her as Amy entered the apartment. “Jess, Amy, Amy, Jess.”

“So you’re Jess,” Amy said in a delighted tone that Flynn immediately knew spelled trouble.

Jess gave Amy a once over. Uh-oh. She was looking at Amy the way Flynn had seen dogs look at steak. “And you’re the elusive Amy.”

Lucy finished her coffee. “Great, we’re all friends. Flynn, how good’s your Russian?”

“Rusty, but passable.”

“And do you still have that that burgundy tie?”

“Um, yes? Why?” Flynn then made the mistake of taking a sip of coffee.

“Good.” Lucy took a deep breath. “I need you to be my date to my grandfather’s birthday tonight.”

Flynn choked on his coffee.

And Wyatt literally dropped his phone in the sink.


	3. Chapter 3

“You need what?” Wyatt choked out.

Flynn looked like someone had clocked him in the back of the head.

“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Jess said, dashing over to the cupboard, grabbing a bag of popcorn, and shoving it into the microwave. “Please, by all means, continue.”

“My grandfather’s having his birthday party tonight,” Lucy explained. “And you know how my family is.”

Wyatt did, in fact, know how Lucy’s family was, as did Flynn. Personally, he didn’t know why Lucy bothered with spending any time with the bastards at all.

“And I’m so sick of going to these things and feeling like I’m not making any progress in my life and that they’re all right and I’m a failure.”

Flynn gave an involuntary, low growling sort of noise in the back of his throat that Wyatt refused to find attractive. He and Wyatt had both been there when Lucy had come home from those family parties, crying, asking if she wasn’t doing it all wrong.

Wyatt laid a hand on Lucy’s shoulder, ignoring the urge to wrap her in his arms. He’d always been a sucker where Lucy was concerned but he’d known for months that it was no good hoping. “You really don’t have to go.”

“Of course I do,” Lucy replied, her face blazing. “If I don’t go, it means I backed down and they win.”

“I’m… not sure that’s how it works…” Flynn added.

Lucy folded her arms. “Does this mean you won’t go?”

“No! Yes!” Flynn said quickly. “Why do you even need me to be your date?”

“Yeah, why do you need him, Lucy?” Jess echoed, grinning evilly.

Wyatt may have been in love with her once upon a time, but Jessica Logan was an evil, evil woman. And he would tell that to anyone who would listen.

“I need someone who will piss my family off,” Lucy said. “And you’re the best at that.”

“He is,” Wyatt admitted. Flynn was very good at pissing people off. He pissed Wyatt off all the time and Wyatt was in love with the bastard.

The microwave dinged and Jess took out her popcorn. Everyone stared at her.

“Don’t stop on my account,” she said gleefully, popping some popcorn into her mouth.

“Mind if I have some?” Amy asked.

“You can have some of whatever you want,” Jess told her, a slow, purring sort of smile spreading over her face.

Wyatt frowned at her. What?

“Take Wyatt,” Flynn said, sounding strangled.

“They’ll eat Wyatt alive,” Lucy said. “But this is what you’re good at. You can pretend to be a communist, right?”

“I’m a socialist,” Flynn said slowly.

“Oh, perfect. Look, just start an argument whenever anyone says something racist, quote a few political philosophers, mention how many revolutions you’ve been in and you’ll be fine.” Lucy’s eyes took on an evil gleam. “And by ‘fine’, I mean they’ll be giving themselves heart attacks with how much they hate you.”

Wyatt privately wondered why every woman he fell in love with was evil.

“This is great, Lucy, just fantastic,” Flynn said in his _I’m about to drop a sarcastic truth bomb_ voice. “Just one tiny thing, this little, miniscule flaw in an otherwise perfect plan: we’re not dating.”

“So?”

“So,” Flynn said, drawing the word out, “People are going to expect certain… behaviors, from couples who are dating.”

“If this is your way of saying you need to hold my hand, I think I can manage that without fainting from shock.”

Jess was happily munching on the popcorn, her eyes darting back and forth between everyone. Wyatt glared at her. “I’m sorry, is this your primetime?”

“You bet your Texan ass it is,” Jess replied, passing the popcorn bowl to Amy.

Wyatt pointed at Jess. “Lucy, she’s doing the popcorn thing again.”

“Jess, please stop stressing out Wyatt by eating popcorn and pretending we’re a television show,” Lucy said automatically.

“I want to see how high I can get his blood pressure,” Jess replied.

“I hate everyone in this room,” Wyatt said.

“What did I do?” Flynn asked, sounding genuinely offended.

“You existed.”

“It’s like a tennis match,” Amy said quietly in an awed tone of voice.

“Are you going to be my date or not?” Lucy asked.

“Am I going to fake date you just to piss off your racist classist family?” Flynn corrected.

“You make it sound so sordid, do you need me to pay you?”

“Right, because paying him for this doesn’t make it sordid,” Wyatt said.

“You stay out of this.”

“You’re my roommates, if I stay out of this and it goes horribly wrong you two are going to come home and demand to know why I didn’t say anything, and then I’m going to say that it wasn’t my business, and you’re going to say, _Wyatt you’re our roommate of course it’s your business_ , and then—”

Lucy literally clapped her hand over his mouth. Wyatt resisted the temptation to bite it.

“Please?” she asked Flynn, in that soft way that only Lucy could.

Well, Wyatt knew right then that the battle was lost. Neither he nor Flynn could resist Lucy’s soft voice, especially when she said please.

Sure enough, Flynn caved at once. “If it means that much to you,” he said, sighing.

Lucy released Wyatt in order to fling her arms around Flynn’s neck. A feat she could only manage since Flynn was sitting down. “You’re the best and I owe you so big for this!”

“He gets to yell at racist capitalists, I think he’s getting something out of it too,” Wyatt noted, trying to ignore the very, very quiet sound of his heart cracking open.

Flynn hugged Lucy back, shooting Wyatt a dry look over her shoulder. Wyatt winked at him, trying to play the part he knew he was supposed to play: the amused one who was definitely not feeling like a third wheel in any way shape or form.

Jess and Amy were now whispering to each other, undoubtedly sharing the color commentary they knew would get them kicked out of the apartment if they said it out loud.

“Okay, we need to pick something out for you,” Lucy said, pulling away and yanking Flynn towards the bedroom. “We have to match. That’ll really make them gag.”

Flynn shot Wyatt a look that very plainly said _help me_. Wyatt just waved, a shit eating grin on his face.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” Amy announced, “Where I can laugh my ass off without my sister smacking me for it.”

She then suited the action to the word and marched into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

A moment later, Wyatt heard hysterical, muffled laughter.

“Hey.”

Jess’s voice was soft, and her hand landed gently on his shoulder. “You okay?” she asked.

He and Jess made far better friends than they had lovers. They bickered like nobody’s business and she seemed to make a professional sport out of trolling him, but she also knew when he was hurting, and generally knew exactly what to say.

Wyatt swallowed, turning away. The last thing he needed was for Lucy or Flynn to come back and see the look on his face. “It’s fine.”

He knew it would happen eventually. Flynn had been enamored with Lucy from day one. There was no way that this whole fake date thing wasn’t a flimsy excuse for Lucy to finally subtly open the door for Flynn to make a move. God knew Flynn wouldn’t do it on his own.

“Oh, baby,” Jess said, and she was the only person in the world who could call him that and get away with it. She set down her popcorn and took his face in her hands. “Hey, it’s okay, you know that right? C’mere.”

She hugged him, and Wyatt just had to hug her back, because even after all the ways he’d screwed her over, she kept coming back and letting him cry on her shoulder.

“Whatever stupid fear you’re having right now?” Jess told him, “I promise you, it’s not real.”

She pulled back, brushing her fingers over his cheek and smiling gently. “You’re not their third wheel, mmkay? Unless it’s in a tricycle kind of way.”

Wyatt wanted to protest to that, but then Amy emerged from the bathroom. “Am I interrupting something?”

Jess smiled at her in a very, very different way from how she had just smiled at Wyatt. “Interrupt all you want. I was just reminding Wyatt how much his roommates appreciate him.”

“That they do,” Amy said with a knowing smirk. “So, Jess, I hear you’re a bartender?”

“Wyatt Logan!” Lucy yelled. “Get in here, tell Flynn he’s an asshole!”

“…you literally just did that for me,” Wyatt replied, but he rolled his eyes to go see what the fuss was about.

And just about swallowed his tongue.

Lucy was pointing at Flynn. “Please tell him that he’s an asshole for not wearing this when we went to Disneyland for Dapper Day.”

“I try to block that day out of my mind,” Wyatt replied automatically, because sassing back at Lucy and Flynn was his default and thank God for that because the rest of his brain was stalled on _holy fucking shit goddamn Flynn in a suit shit fuck fuck fuck_.

And not just any suit, either, that shit was fucking tailored. He was holding the burgundy tie that Lucy had mentioned earlier, and the top two buttons of his shirt were undone, but if you asked Wyatt that bit of dishevelment just added to it.

Oh he was so screwed.

“I look way too old fashioned,” Flynn protested.

“You also look fine as fuck, you’re wearing it,” Lucy declared.

Flynn’s cheeks went pink at that. Wyatt was still trying to get his eyes to remember that they were supposed to look at Flynn’s face and not his chest.

That shirt fit him really well.

“Hold on, I’ll go ahead and change, we’re going to look so awesome my mom is going to hate us.” Lucy dashed out of the room.

“I’m going to regret doing this, aren’t I?” Flynn asked, rolling up his sleeves.

Forearms. Forearms. Oh, fuck. Wyatt was not equipped to handle this. “I think you’ll have more fun than you expect.”

Flynn arched an eyebrow at him. “Like you wouldn’t be freaking out if it was you.”

“You’re literally being told to sic ‘em,” Wyatt said. “That sounds like a dream come true for you. Usually we’re telling you to hold back.”

“Yes, but it’s Lucy’s family,” Flynn hissed, finishing rolling up his sleeves and folding his arms.

Wyatt was very glad he was still wearing his baggy pajama sweats.

“Whether she wants to admit it or not, she cares what they think,” Flynn went on. “She wants them to be impressed with her in spite of their snobbery. It’s like a game and she has to beat it, she has to win. I’m not saying it’s healthy but it’s how she feels. Because for some godforsaken reason she can’t just accept that she’s already fantastic enough on her own.

“If I screw this up, it’ll only make things worse for her. And that’s the last thing that either of us want.”

Wyatt had to acknowledge that Flynn had a point. “Okay. But Flynn, you’re the best debater I know. The only person smarter than you is Lucy. If I went in there, they’d fuck me up, but you? You just take anything people say as a reason to stay even more calm, just to piss them off. You’re going to do great.”

Flynn stared at him with this odd look on his face, one that Wyatt couldn’t quite decipher. The silence stretched out long enough that Wyatt realized he’d probably sounded like an idiot just then.

“Anyway,” he said, coughing. “I’ll just go and. Um. Check on how Jess and Amy are getting along.”

He hurried out of the room, only to find out exactly how well Jess and Amy were getting along.

The thing was, Wyatt needed to see a lot of things in his life.

He needed to see the end of _Game of Thrones_.

He needed to see Flynn once, just once, forget it was there and smack his forehead on their room divider.

He needed to see Tom Brady get punched in the face.

But what he definitely did not need to see, was the sister of the woman he was in love with wrapped around his ex-wife while they made out in his kitchen.

“Oh my God!” Wyatt yelped, clapping a hand over his eyes. “What the _fuck_ —”

“You definitely did not divorce her for her kissing skills,” Amy said dazedly.

“I hate you both,” Wyatt moaned. “So much, oh my God, get me some bleach so I can blind myself and purge that image from my mind.”

“What’s going on?” Lucy asked, emerging from her bedroom.

Wyatt’s jaw literally dropped. “When the hell did you get that dress?” he asked, his voice strangled.

“What, this?” Lucy twirled around in the dark burgundy, slinky little number that was making Wyatt seriously consider just jumping out the window to end his misery. “Amy got it for me, I’ve just never had anything to wear it for.”

“I gave you plenty of suggestions as to what you could wear it for,” Amy muttered.

Flynn entered, saw Lucy, and stopped dead. “Wow.”

“Really?” Lucy asked, like she wasn’t aware that she looked like the kind of woman ancient civilizations started wars over.

“Yeah, the color suits you,” Jess said. “Must be real easy to take on and off.”

Wyatt glared at her. Jess tossed some popcorn into her mouth and winked at him.

“Okay, I have to do my hair and all,” Lucy said, “But we’ll have to leave soon, they live upstate and it’s a long drive.”

“Sure thing,” Flynn said, sounding strangled again. In other words, he sounded how Wyatt felt.

Jess slid up to him and hooked her chin over his shoulder. “I would like to point out that I got together with this woman’s sister within twenty minutes of knowing her. Learn from my example, young Padawan.”

“I hate you. I’m going to poison your popcorn.”

He wasn’t envious. He wasn’t. Nothing might happen on this not-date. Just. You know. Two insanely attractive people looking their very best stuck in a room where they hated everyone except for each other and everybody expected them to be all touchy.

Yeah, sure, nothing was going to happen.

Wyatt really hated his life.

“How about this,” Jess said quietly. “You go ring shopping with Rufus, and then bring him back here, and have Jiya come over, and the five of us will do Mario Kart or something, hmm? Make a fun night out of it?”

Wyatt nodded. He really, really didn’t want to be alone tonight. “Yeah. That’d… be nice.”

Jess hugged him quickly from behind and then scooted back over to Amy. “Your presence, I’m afraid, is mandatory,” she said with a dramatic sigh.

“Oh dear,” Amy said, faking a pout. “Whatever am I going to do?”

“You’re not going to make out in my kitchen, I can tell you that much,” Wyatt grumbled.

It was going to be fine, he told himself. He’d have a fun night with friends, and hopefully that would be enough to bolster him for when Lucy and Flynn inevitably came home, glowing and happy and thinking only of each other and not at all about him.

Yeah.

It was going to be fine.


	4. Chapter 4

Lucy glanced at the clock as she finished up her makeup in the bathroom. Normally she didn’t care all that much about what others thought of her look. She did her makeup and hair the way she liked it, and if she was satisfied with it then what did anyone else matter?

But her family had a way of bringing out all of her insecurities, including how short she was (everyone in her family was at least five nine), her love of vintage outfits (“don’t you think you’re being a little old-fashioned, dear?”), and even her eyebrows (“I love how you’re brave enough to just let them grow out like that”).

There was a knock at the door. “Lucy?” It was Wyatt. “You okay in there?”

“Tell her chucking a toaster into the bath isn’t a solution!” Amy called from the kitchen.

“Should I come in?” Wyatt asked, quieter, so the others couldn’t hear.

Lucy unlocked the door and let him in. She glared at Amy for good measure as she closed the door again, although Amy didn’t seem to really notice since she was currently admiring Jess’s arm muscles.

Flynn rolled his eyes at her as if to say _being stuck with these two won’t kill me but if you could rescue me as soon as possible I’d appreciate it._

Lucy winked at him, then closed the door.

Wyatt frowned at her. “You’re panicking.”

“I am not panicking.”

He pointed at her hair. “You’re over-curling your hair. It means you’re panicking.”

Lucy whipped around to look at herself in the mirror. “Is it too much?”

Wyatt sighed. “If you’re really worried about it, get Flynn to help you, he’s good at hair. Unless you want me to make you a ponytail.”

Flynn had slowly but surely begun to tell them more about Lorena and Iris over time, but they still learned the most from the little things he just sort of dropped sideways into the conversation. Like the fact that Iris had always wanted to be a princess and so he’d learned how to do hair for her.

Wyatt, married to a bartender, was happy to announce that all he knew how to do was say “you look good.”

Lucy shook her head. “No, no, I don’t have time, we have to get going…”

Wyatt put his hands on her shoulders, stopping her from reaching for the hairbrush. “Luce. C’mon.” He met her gaze in the mirror. “You and I both know that no matter what you do, they’re gonna make comments. It’s what they do, because they’re assholes. You’d never dress to impress the frat boys who take your class just for the liberal arts requirements. Why are you trying to impress people you know are assholes? You look beautiful.”

Lucy wished like anything she could lean back into his chest, let him wrap his arms around her. Maybe cry just a little. “A part of me, I guess, just keeps thinking that someday I’ll do something that even they can’t pick apart.”

Wyatt squeezed her shoulders briefly, then let go. “Look, I was a shit husband to Jess, let’s all admit that. I was jealous, I had a temper, I couldn’t talk through my shit like a functional human being. And part of why the divorce was so hard was because I couldn’t admit that there was nothing I could do to win her back over. I had to let her go.

“And now she’s my best friend, and honestly… I think we made better friends than we ever did spouses. That’s what we started out as in high school. Honestly Luce, I think you just have to let it go. And things’ll work out the way they’re supposed to.”

Lucy drew in a shaky breath. “Jess is a good person, though. And she always cared about you. My family…”

“Doesn’t deserve you,” Wyatt said firmly. “And you’re going to go there, and you’re going to let Flynn flail them alive, and you’re going to look fantastic, and you’re going to eat a shit ton of those stupid fancy whatever they’re called they serve on trays and also smuggle some home for me.”

Lucy laughed in spite of herself. Wyatt smiled. “There she is.”

“Not sure what I’d do without you sometimes,” Lucy admitted.

Wyatt’s smile looked a little pained. “I’m sure you’d be just fine.”

Before she could ask what the hell that meant, Wyatt was opening the door. “I expect you back out here in ten minutes. I’m setting a timer.”

Lucy rolled her eyes but let him go.

 

* * *

 

As Wyatt came back from pep-talking Lucy, Amy pointed at him. “You,” she said accusingly.

Wyatt stopped dead in his tracks. “What did I do?”

“You didn’t _tell_ me that Jess could play piano.”

“Why would I tell you something like that?” Wyatt asked, confused.

Flynn raised an eyebrow at him, then tapped his fingers on the kitchen counter. Wyatt still looked confused.

Flynn sighed. He mimed how you would spread your fingers out when you were playing a piano. Then he mimed doing something that was definitely not playing the piano.

Wyatt’s eyes went a little wide, then he glared at Amy. “I’m not sure I like what I’m seeing, here.”

“I’ll duel you for her,” Amy said quickly.

Wyatt looked like he was in physical pain.

Jess just preened.

Flynn felt as though his nerves were being stretched thin, almost to the breaking point. Waiting for Lucy, knowing that soon he was going to have to pretend to have what he wanted so badly… he was pretty sure he’d rather face the Spanish Inquisition.

“So tell me,” Jess all but purred at Amy, “I’m sure you’ve got plenty of hidden talents of your own.”

Wyatt made a gagging noise, looked at Flynn, and heaved a sigh of relief. “Oh thank God, your tie’s crooked.”

“I fail to see how this is a reason for celebration,” Flynn said, bringing his hands up to fix it.

Wyatt marched over and batted Flynn’s hands away to do it himself. “Gives me something to do,” he muttered. “I swear they’re rubbing this in my face on purpose.”

“Probably,” Flynn acknowledged, keeping his voice low. “Jess’s favorite pastime is driving you nuts.”

“This is revenge for all the times I was an asshole,” Wyatt grumbled. “I just know it.”

God, they were standing so close. It definitely wasn’t the first time. He and Wyatt shared a room, for crying out loud. But every time, it was like getting gut-punched. Wyatt couldn’t do his own tie for shit but he was good when helping someone else, and his fingers worked quickly, brushing over the skin of Flynn’s throat as he did so.

Between Wyatt and this date with Lucy, Flynn was pretty sure he was being punished for something. Maybe he’d been a serial killer in a past life.

“And how’re you doing?” Wyatt asked, his voice low. “Lucy’s having a level five panic attack in there.”

“I’m okay,” Flynn lied.

Wyatt looked up at him through his lashes, and dammit Flynn _knew_ Wyatt wasn’t trying to be flirtatious, but he needed to stop _doing_ shit like that. “You know you can’t lie to me.”

“I sure can try,” Flynn shot back. If only Wyatt knew how good he was at lying, at all the things he’d been keeping in his chest for two years now.

Wyatt looked amused for a second, then sobered up. “You’re allowed to be nervous. As our couples’ therapist kept telling me. You’ll smuggle me home some food, yeah?”

Flynn chuckled, which he suspected had been Wyatt’s goal. “I’ll see what I can do.”

The bathroom door opened, and that was when Flynn realized that despite finishing with his tie, Wyatt hadn’t stepped back, had just been resting one of his hands on Flynn’s chest, their faces only inches apart.

Yeah, Flynn had definitely been some awful dictator in a past life or something.

Lucy hurried out of the bathroom, hair and makeup looking like the cover for a ‘40s magazine. Flynn heard Wyatt inhale sharply as he looked at her.

Flynn could relate, his own breath froze in his chest a little.

“All right,” Lucy said, slipping on her shoes. “Flynn, Amy, let’s go.”

“What do you mean?” Amy said. She sounded like Lucy had told her she was going to put down her dog. “Jess invited me to stay and play Mario Kart.”

Lucy leveled Amy with the kind of glare that made her students cry. “You were the one who was technically invited to this thing. If I’m going, you’re going.”

Amy and Jess looked like they were on the _Titanic_ and Lucy had just told them that there was room for only one of them on the lifeboat. “Lucy,” Amy pleaded.

“Get in the car,” Lucy ordered.

Amy huffed but grabbed her purse and shoes.

“Drive safely,” Wyatt said, hugging Lucy. “Knock ‘em dead.”

Flynn herded Lucy out the door before she could change her mind about her earrings or something. As they got out into the hallway he heard what sounded like someone’s ass getting smacked and then Wyatt groaning, “I really, _really_ don’t need to see _any_ of this, get out of my damn apartment, Mini Preston.”

Amy appeared a moment later, grinning triumphantly and closing the door behind her. “Shall we?”

“Into the valley of death rode the six hundred,” Flynn murmured to Lucy.

She smiled at him. “As you say, Tennyson.”

 

* * *

 

Amy was in the backseat, earphones in, texting furiously with somebody. Probably Jess. Leave it to her little sister to do her damndest to bang Lucy’s roommate’s ex-wife the second she clapped eyes on her.

“Tell me,” Lucy asked, from her position in the front passenger seat, “Do you feel any shame? Ever?”

“Shame is for the weak,” Amy replied.

Lucy curled up in her seat, staring out the window. Normally she’d drive but she was far too nervous at the moment. She could feel her stomach knotting and unknotting like she’d eaten something bad.

Flynn glanced over at her every couple of minutes. He was doing that thing where he hummed songs—a sign he was more nervous than he wanted to let on. Or a sign he was trying to calm her down.

Probably both.

“You’re more worked up in knots than usual,” he noted when they were about halfway there.

Lucy shrugged.

Flynn nudged her with his elbow. Easy to do when his arms were so damn long. “C’mon, Lucy. I know you, you can’t fool me.”

“Can’t fool you or Wyatt,” she grumbled.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Flynn said, his voice taking on that gently, warmly teasing tone that she had always wanted to feel murmured against the skin of her neck. “What are you nervous about, exactly? What’s got you in knots, eh?”

Lucy sighed, turning to curl towards him. “My tenure meeting got cancelled.”

“Motherfucking David?”

“Motherfucking David,” Lucy confirmed. “And I know they’re all going to ask about it. And I wanted it so badly, and they’re only going to make it worse…”

Flynn shook his head. “None of that. Lucy, you’re going to get tenure. So that asshole’s doing his part for the dying patriarchy. Who cares? You’re going to find a way around it. It’s not a reflection on your skills, or how good of a teacher you are, or how well you know your subject because you do.”

“I was supposed to have a book published by now,” Lucy admitted, very softly. She really, really hoped that Amy’s music was loud enough that she couldn’t hear any of this.

“You will,” Flynn replied.

Lucy laughed, feeling hollow. “But that’s the thing, Garcia, all the things they’re going to say to me tonight—I know they’ll be true. And that makes it so much harder to handle.”

Flynn shook his head vehemently but kept quiet. Lucy fixed him with a look. “Spit it out,” she said.

Flynn sighed. “Look, when I first met you, I thought I knew you. I thought I had your number. And when I first met you I thought you were the most confident person in the world. I thought you knew how on top of your game you are.

“But now I know that you’re not as confident as you make it seem, and that you doubt yourself. And Lucy, I’ve never understood that, because you’re the smartest person that I know.”

“To you, maybe,” Lucy replied, feeling her cheeks heat up.

Flynn shook his head. “To everybody. You’re always the smartest person in the room. I just wish that you saw that and didn’t second-guess yourself all the time.”

“Maybe if we get through this night, I’ll start, how’s that sound?”

Flynn gave her one of his small, crooked smiles. Those had been the first smiles she and Wyatt had been able to coax out of him, although now he smiled widely and freely. “Sounds like a bet to me.”

 

* * *

 

Flynn had known that Lucy’s grandfather was the annoying kind of rich—the kind where he could buy Flynn caviar every day for the rest of Flynn’s life and it wouldn’t even make a dent in his bank account.

But it was one thing to know it and another thing to see the fancy house in the fancy annoyingly white community upstate and go, _well fuck, it’s one of these people_.

Amy got right out of the car, tucked her phone and earphones away, and shucked off her sweater to reveal her just-see-through-enough-to-be-scandalous dress.

“Trying to give Grandpa a heart attack for his birthday, I see,” Lucy said dryly.

“More like give Mom an aneurysm, but this is just the dress that keeps on giving,” Amy replied.

She fairly skipped up to the house and let herself in, closing the front door behind her. Apparently, the younger Preston wanted to make her entrance on her own.

“I can practically hear the appalled gasps,” Lucy noted.

They walked up to the house, weaving their way through the BMWs and Jaguars.

“How much would we get sued for if we keyed a few of these?” Flynn whispered, leaning in.

Lucy leaned back into him, laughing. “Nobody could prove it was us,” she replied, conspiratorial.

Flynn squared his shoulders as they stepped up onto the front stoop. Sass a few assholes. He could do that. He’d made a career out of doing that.

Although usually he’d also had a gun on him.

“How do I look?” Lucy asked hurriedly, right before Flynn knocked on the door.

 _How you always look_ , he thought. _Beautiful._

“Like you’re ready to kick ass,” he told her.

Lucy smiled, sharp, like a knife. “Good.”

Flynn knocked on the door.

Carol, Lucy’s mother, opened it. “Lucy!” she hissed, not even bothering with a hug or a proper hello. “Did you let your sister come here in a see-through dress!?”

“She was wearing a sweater,” Lucy replied.

“I think it really shows off her figure,” Flynn said.

He’d met Carol Preston once before, but apparently she’d blocked that meeting from her memory because she fixed him with a suspicious glare and said to Lucy, “And who is this?”

“This is Garcia Flynn,” Lucy said, taking his hand.

Flynn knew that it was coming, but it still gave him a teeny tiny heart attack.

 _You’re doing this for Lucy_ , he reminded himself. “I’m the boyfriend,” he said out loud, giving Carol his best ‘I fuck your daughter regularly’ smirk.

Carol looked like she’d swallowed a lemon. “Lovely. Lucy, you never mentioned you had a boyfriend.”

“I’m sure Lucy doesn’t mention a lot of things,” Flynn replied before Lucy could say anything. “Like when she gets knocked up and then marries another man to cover it up.”

Carol stared at him like she wanted to be furious but couldn’t quite get herself to believe he’d actually said that. After a moment, she seemed to settle on frigid denial. “Why don’t you two come in, get a glass of champagne.”

As she walked off, Lucy squeezed his hand and Flynn had another miniature heart attack. “I. Love. You,” she whispered gleefully.

Flynn had to ferociously remind himself that she meant it platonically. “I think I started this war with a nuclear bomb,” he whispered.

“A nuclear bomb of _awesome_ ,” Lucy replied. “Let’s go, if I’m not tipsy in the next ten minutes we’ve failed in our mission.”

“I’ve seen you tipsy and I’m not sure that’s the best idea,” Flynn said, but he let her use her grip on his hand to tug him into the house.

Amy was sitting on the grand piano in the living room, a plate of canapes at her side, an entire bottle of champagne in her hand. “Uncle Richard thought I was a prostitute,” she declared proudly.

“Give me that,” Lucy said, reaching for the champagne bottle.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Miss Lucy.”

Flynn didn’t know who this person was, but he didn’t like her at all from the way Lucy’s shoulders tensed up.

They both turned slowly, and Flynn saw a tall, redhaired woman smiling at them. She looked attractive, but there was something cold in her expression and the way she was looking at Lucy that made him want to grab her by the throat.

“Emma,” Lucy said carefully. “Flynn, this is Grandpa’s… wife. Emma, this is Flynn, my boyfriend.”

This was her grandfather’s _wife_? She looked only a little older than Lucy. Flynn looked at Lucy with a raised eyebrow.

She gave him a look that clearly said _I’ll tell you later_.

“Aww, it’s our favorite gold digger,” Amy said. She held out the bottle. “Champagne?”

“Aww, Amy, you didn’t tell me you switched careers,” Emma replied. “Tell me, does stripping pay as well as they say?”

“If that’s your way of asking for a lap dance, you’ll have to book an appointment with my manager,” Amy shot back cheerfully, completely unfazed.

“And how’s it going being the family disappointment?” Emma asked, turning to Lucy.

Lucy’s cheeks colored, and Flynn couldn’t help himself—he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in against him.

The physical touch seemed to calm her a little. “Really great,” she said. “It’s amazing how good it feels to actually earn things.”

Emma raised an eyebrow, a glint in her eyes. “That depends on your definition of ‘earning’, princess.”

“Ah, Lucy.”

While everyone was distracted, Lucy quickly got up onto her tiptoes and whispered, “Emma’s the CFO for Grandpa’s company. Nobody’s sure if she got the job and then started sleeping with him or vice versa. They got married last year. Mom’s not happy about it.”

The person approaching them was in a wheelchair, and had to be Nicholas Keynes, Carol’s father and Lucy’s grandfather—and Emma’s husband. “Lucy, dear, always good to see you.”

“Happy birthday, Grandpa,” Lucy said, dutifully kissing him on the cheek.

Amy looked at Flynn, gagged, then winked.

“How is the university work going?” Nicholas asked. He was ignoring Flynn completely, like Flynn wasn’t even there.

Lucy seemed to notice this as well, but she didn’t say anything just yet. “It’s been going well.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to move to Harvard?” Nicholas asked. “It’s my alma mater, you know, I could put in a word for you…”

“I think I’m fine where I am,” Lucy said. Flynn could feel her going stiff against his side and he squeezed, just once, reminding her he was there.

“Are you sure?” Nicholas asked. “Are you still waiting on tenure, because I’m sure that if I…”

Lucy drew in a shaky breath. “No, no tenure yet, but I’ve put in a request and I’m sure I’ll be hearing any day now.”

“Putting in a request for a raise isn’t the same as getting one,” Nicholas pointed out.

Emma looked like the cat that got the cream.

Flynn could swear he could feel his blood boiling. “You know what I love about Lucy?” he cut in.

Nicholas looked at him for the first time, and Flynn smiled. He knew that it was what Lorena had called his wolf smile—the one that spread over his face when he was going in for the kill.

“I love how she’s gotten so far without any help from anyone else. It’s what you Americans love so much, right? The whole myth of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps that you rich fat cats like to dangle in front of us to keep the rest of us in line. She didn’t get a few million as a ‘starter gift’ from Daddy, or Granddaddy in this case. She didn’t get into an Ivy League because she’s a legacy. It’s really admirable, don’t you think? Seeing someone who actually knows how to put in the hard work and start from the bottom? That’s what you are all supposed to believe in, right? Or have I been misinterpreting your propaganda all these years?”

“Lucy,” Nicholas said, speaking slowly and carefully, “who is this?”

“This is my boyfriend,” Lucy said, and it hurt to hear how proud she sounded of him, like there was nothing in the world she liked more than being able to tell people that she and Flynn were dating.

It was really doing a number on his ability to breathe.

“Garcia Flynn,” he said, holding out his hand, keeping his wolf smile firmly in place.

“Odd, Lucy’s never mentioned you,” Nicholas said, but he shook Flynn’s hand nonetheless.

“She’s told me all about you,” Flynn said, using the _I know something you don’t want me to know_ tone that he’d used in interrogations.

Nicholas looked a little uncomfortable. “Tell me, Flynn, what is it that you do? You’re not from around here.”

The last part was said in a very clear ‘you don’t belong here’ tone. Flynn shrugged casually. “Oh, I grew up in Croatia, but my mother’s American. Served in a few revolutions.”

“He’s won medals,” Lucy added proudly.

Amy looked like she was enjoying this far too much.

“Became an NSA asset, then got recruited into the FBI. Quit a few years ago to go into private security.”

Subtext: I could make you disappear and they would never find your body.

“Fascinating,” Nicholas said. “I’m surprised that Lucy’s dating a man of such an… interesting background. Wasn’t your last serious relationship with a surgeon?”

Amy snorted. “Noah was boring as fuck.”

Both Nicholas and Emma ignored her. Flynn sent her a _you’re my favorite_ wink.

“I think interesting isn’t doing it justice,” Lucy said loyally. “Did you know that he set records for the number of closed cases while he was with the FBI?”

“It’s just so interesting,” Emma said. “I mean, Lucy, you’re working on your PhD, aren’t you? And aiming for tenure. And Flynn… I’m sorry, I didn’t hear, did you go to college?”

“You know what they say about opposites attracting,” Flynn said. “Like age differences. Fascinating how two people with supposedly nothing in common can fall in love and get married so very quickly, wouldn’t you say?”

An angry red flush crept up Emma’s neck.

“Height differences are great too,” Amy added.

Lucy turned to give her sister a wide-eyed stare.

“So tell me,” Emma added in a falsely sweet voice. “When did you two meet?”

“They’re roommates,” Amy said. Because Amy was a traitor and Flynn was taking back every nice thing he’d ever said about her.

“Roommates,” Nicholas said slowly. “Why on earth were you roommates with a man?”

“It’s the 21st century,” Lucy replied, a bit of ice creeping into her voice. “People of different genders can live together respectfully.”

“Oh, I’m sure Flynn was very respectful,” Emma said.

Lucy looked like she was imagining shooting Emma. Repeatedly. In the face. “He’s respectful right up until I tell him not to be.”

Flynn hadn’t known it was possible to choke on your own spit, but that was exactly what he was doing.

“They have another roommate too,” Amy added. “Wyatt.”

Flynn was now the one giving her a wide-eyed stare of betrayal.

“Wyatt didn’t go to college either,” Lucy said cheerfully.

“And when did you two go from…” Emma paused. “Roommates, to more than?”

Flynn could see Carol in the corner of his eye. She was pausing by the fireplace, clearly eavesdropping but trying not to let anyone notice.

They had to think up a good story. If only so that Carol could choke on her damn caviar. “Just six months ago,” Flynn said.

He hoped he was remembering this correctly.

“Lucy had just had a bit of an argument,” he said. He didn’t have to say who she was arguing with, or what it was about. Six months ago had been when Carol and Lucy had their last argument. “She was feeling really down, so I took her out to where they were doing this outdoor showing of _It Happened One Night_.”

Wyatt had been working a case, but on his way home he’d gotten Lucy her favorite dessert for her to have for breakfast the next morning.

“We went and sat on a picnic blanket and watched the movie,” Flynn went on. He could feel Lucy going stiff beside him, but not in upset—in surprise. Everything he was saying so far had actually happened. “We didn’t really talk. Just had a beer or two, watched the film. And the whole time I was just thinking…”

He shrugged, looking down at her. “…how amazing she was.”

Lucy was staring up at him, some odd light in her eyes that Flynn couldn’t quite name. Or didn’t dare name.

“And, well, I couldn’t help but tell her so,” he finished. “And she kissed me.”

She’d have had to kiss him. In real life and in fantasy, he couldn’t bring himself to make that first move, not when she was so upset over her relationship with her mother. It hadn’t felt like his place to do so.

“And that was that,” he added, looking back over at Nicholas and Emma.

Carol was definitely still eavesdropping, but Flynn didn’t expect her to actually work up the courage to turn around and join in the conversation. “Well, I suppose when one’s upset, one will take whatever comfort can be found,” she said. “I remember being in a very similar situation, once.”

Lucy’s eyes blazed as she looked at her mother. “If you’re suggesting…”

Carol shrugged. “I’m just saying that you’re hardly in a position to judge me, my dear.”

Lucy opened her mouth, closed it, then said, “excuse me.”

She wiggled her way out from under Flynn’s arm and hurried out of the room.

Flynn looked at Carol and very carefully, very graphically envisioned dropping her off the side of a building. “If you’ll excuse me, please.”

As he hurried after Lucy he could hear Amy saying, “Hey, Mom, think I can do a handstand on this piano?”

Thank God for Amy.

Now he just had to find Lucy.

 

* * *

 

She couldn’t do it.

She just couldn’t do it.

Not with Flynn using a story, a real story, as the fake one for how they’d gotten together. She’d wanted to kiss him then, and when she’d woken up to Wyatt making her breakfast in bed she’d wanted to kiss him, too. She’d wanted them both so badly.

And now Flynn was giving her this option where she did, where she’d had the courage and it had been reciprocated.

And then Mom had said—she’d had the _audacity_ —and Emma was just looking at her like Lucy was something nasty she’d found at the bottom of her shoe, and Grandpa acting like Lucy was some, some charity case…

Thank God, Grandpa had this massive house. Plenty of little hallways she could hide in.

“Hey.”

She should’ve known that Flynn would find her anyway.

She didn’t look at him, kept her back to him, but she heard him inhale sharply as if he could see her face, and then he was pulling her into his arms and letting her rest her head on his chest.

“You’re not your mother,” he told her.

“I—”

“You’re not,” he repeated, firm.

She let herself cling to his shirt. “I know. I know, I just…”

She pulled back so that she could look up at his face. “How can I possibly measure up? Nothing I ever do will be good enough for them. It’s like they like making me feel like shit.”

“Lucy,” Flynn said slowly, carefully, making sure she understood every word, “I’ve known a lot of people with money. With power. People that for whatever reason, thought they were better than everyone else. And I can tell you that they are definitely not worth you. Not one of them.”

Lucy shook her head, her breath tight in her lungs, in her throat. “Just get back out there. You were doing fantastic, you were clearly having the time of your life mowing them down.”

Flynn growled low in the back of his throat. “I’m not here so that I can play whack-a-mole with your stuck-up relatives. If I wanted to find people to argue with, I could do that any day.”

“Then why are you here, Flynn,” Lucy demanded. She could feel her eyes getting hot and itchy and dammit, she refused to cry, not when she’d made it this far without giving in.

Flynn got this soft, devastated look on his face, one that she’d never seen before, and she thought—she thought that maybe, oh maybe—

And then Amy walked around the corner.

“You two okay?” she asked.

Flynn tugged at his collar and looked like he was contemplating strangling himself with it.

“We’re fine, thank you Amy,” Lucy said quietly.

Amy walked over and hugged her. “I think I’ve given them all something else to talk about, I started talking about my favorite lesbian pornography videos.”

Flynn choked on his own laughter. “Oh my God.”

“I said there was one that looked a lot like Emma.”

“Oh my _God_.” Flynn looked like this was the best day of his life.

“So now that I’ve been the most obnoxious and scandalizing person I could possibly be,” Amy added, “How about you get back out there with me and show them how little they matter to you, hmm?”

“The best way to get at them,” Flynn said, “is to make them see that you don’t care what they think. They like to wield power over people. If you don’t care, then they don’t have power over you. And there’s nothing that upsets them more.”

“Get out there,” Amy said. “And eat food, and dance with your fake boyfriend, and show them the meaning of a good time.”

Lucy nodded, taking a few deep breaths. Just get out there and show them how much she didn’t care.

Amy kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll go out first.”

After she disappeared, Flynn held out his arm. “Shall we?”

Lucy nodded.

Of course, the moment they reappeared, Emma said, “My goodness, if you two are going to make out, at least do it where the rest of us can get a look.”

Lucy looked over at Amy, who had the grace to look a little sheepish. “I told them you two were, uh…”

“Behaving the way deeply in love couples do,” Emma said, folding her arms. “Go on, then.”

Lucy looked right into Emma’s eyes—and knew that Emma had figured it out. She and Flynn weren’t really dating.

She didn’t know whether it was her openly gaping at Flynn while he told their get-together story, or the way she’d just run off, or something else, but something had tipped Emma off and now she was trying to expose them.

Her mom and Grandpa were nowhere to be seen, so thank heaven for that.

Emma raised an eyebrow. “What, to you get performance issues? I hear that can happen sometimes.”

“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you Emma?” Flynn said mildly. Lucy could detect the slight undertone of panic.

Oh, God, did he not want to kiss her? Of course he didn’t. He’d signed up for some handholding and an arm around her waist, he hadn’t signed up for… whatever this was turning into.

“Gotta admit, I’m curious too,” Amy said.

“You can always get a taxi home,” Lucy shot back.

“Odd, you know, I’m never upset about kissing my husband,” Emma said.

“Is that because he pays you every time you do it?” Amy asked.

“Here,” Flynn said quietly.

Lucy felt his strong fingers at her chin, gently turning her face, while his arm came around her waist to lift her up slightly. Lucy instinctively went up onto her tiptoes, and felt Flynn bend at his knees a little.

She only had time to think how surprisingly soft his eyes were, before he was kissing her.

It wasn’t at all like she’d expected kissing Flynn to be like, the many times she had imagined it. She’d thought it would be hot and fierce, devouring almost. But this was soft, painfully so, like he was trying his best to hold back and be gentle for her.

She sighed into it a little, and then the kiss was deepening, still gentle but a little more insistent, and she swiped her tongue across his bottom lip which made him give out a little wounded noise, and his tongue was sliding past her lips and oh _God_ …

“Jesus, I didn’t ask for a fucking show,” Emma said.

Amy wolf whistled.

Lucy jerked back, trying to ignore how her lips tingled, how Flynn looked like he’d run smack into a brick wall.

“Technically that’s exactly what you did,” Amy said. “And oh look! He didn’t even have to make her CFO!”

Lucy couldn’t stop staring at Flynn. At the way he was staring at her. Her chest was heaving like she’d run a marathon.

“All right, everyone!” Carol said, entering the room and clapping her hands. “Time to sing happy birthday!”

“Lucy…” Flynn started, his voice hoarse.

“Later,” she said quickly, walking over to go into the other room.

She told herself she wasn’t a coward for it.


	5. Chapter 5

Rufus was literally on the floor, laughing.

Wyatt was regretting everything about his life.

“You—they—and you—what!?” Rufus choked out, still laughing his goddamn ass off.

“See if I ever go ring shopping with you again,” Wyatt groaned from his spot lying on the couch.

Rufus was the pickiest damn soon-to-be-fiancé that Wyatt had ever seen. Nothing was perfect enough, good enough, for Jiya.

“This is _amazing_ ,” Rufus said, all but shrieking with laughter still.

“It’s not that funny!”

“It really is, puppy,” Jess said, bestowing an affectionate kiss on Wyatt’s head as she set some gigantic margaritas on the coffee table. “Speaking of your lady love, Rufus, where is she?”

Rufus managed to get his breath back. “She should be here any minute, she got stuck in traffic.”

Jess started queuing up the game. “Once she gets here, Operation Distract Wyatt can officially begin.”

“In all seriousness,” Rufus said, getting up from the floor and flopping onto the couch, “Wyatt. My man. You have got to tell them.”

“Remember how we talked about communicating how you’re feeling and not just bottling it up?” Jess said sweetly.

Wyatt sat up, shaking his head. “That was—that’s different. Look, you and I know how this is going to go. They’re going to have to hold hands and kiss on the cheek and be all cuddly with each other. And everyone’s going to ask them how they met. And Flynn’s going to fucking annihilate her relatives. And Lucy’s going to be smart as fuck and not realize it. And they’re going to realize they’re perfect for each other and they’re going to make out or something and they’re going to date and why the hell would I get in and ruin that? Why would I try and—and hang onto them when they don’t need me?”

“Sorry, what’s going on?” Jiya asked.

Wyatt jumped a mile. He hadn’t heard her come in the door. “Jesus Christ, are you a ninja?”

They caught Jiya up, who just shook her head at the whole thing. “Look, you are definitely not extra. I mean, Lucy won’t shut up about Flynn but she won’t shut up about you either. It’s all, ‘oh did you hear about the case Wyatt closed’ and ‘oh Wyatt gives the best hugs’. It’s sickening.”

“You think that’s sickening!?” Rufus asked. “Have you heard him go on about the two of them? It’s worse because he tries to make it sound like he’s insulting Flynn and he’s completely failing at it.”

“Thanks,” Wyatt said, deadpan.

“I think you should just tell them,” Jess said. “Worse comes to worse, you can move in with me.”

“Because that won’t be awkward.”

“I’m offering because I guarantee you that you won’t have to move in with me.”

“Could we please talk about something else?” It felt like his chest was being squeezed tight. “Look, I always knew it was a matter of time until the two of them got together, okay? I’m used to the idea. I’m good.”

Jess and Rufus looked at each other with equally pitying looks on their faces. Jiya just rolled her eyes.

“Look, if you’re going to be defeatist,” she said, “let’s at least be defeatist while playing Mario Kart so I can crush you, hmm?”

By unspoken agreement, the subject was dropped, and they spent the rest of the evening playing, getting drunk, and goofing off. At one point they started flinging M&Ms at each other while Jess almost choked on her popcorn from laughing so hard.

There also seemed to be an unspoken agreement that Wyatt got as many hugs and cuddles as possible. He appreciated it. He hadn’t realized until he’d started doing counseling with Jess just how much of a touchy person he was, how much he appreciated—no, needed—the people he loved reaching out and touching him, even if it was just a casual brush against his arm.

Lucy and Flynn were both wonderfully touchy. Flynn would ruffle Wyatt’s hair to wake him up when he thought Wyatt was too sleepy to notice. Lucy would hug Wyatt all the time.

It was easy enough to keep himself from thinking about it too much while he was in the thick of the group. All three of them were good at making him laugh. But eventually, it got too late.

When Jiya’s head started drooping onto Rufus’s shoulder, they called it quits.

“I’ll stay,” Jess said quietly. “Let’s get started on the cleanup, okay?”

“They should be home soon,” Wyatt noted, all of his fears rushing back.

“Let’s just focus on the present,” Jess advised. “And that’s cleaning up this mess. I’ll put some coffee on, get us a little more sober.”

“You know coffee doesn’t actually sober you up, right?” Wyatt asked.

“It’s all in the mind,” Jess replied, getting up and going over to the coffee maker.

Wyatt got up and began to pick up all the food they’d flung around.

“You know,” Jess said quietly, “Why I think that we failed?”

Wyatt closed his eyes. “Jess, please. This is really not the night.”

“There were a few reasons,” Jess went on, merciless. “but you know what I think the biggest reason was? The reason you were jealous and angry all the time?”

She turned and looked him dead in the eye. “It’s because you thought, deep down, that you weren’t really good enough for me. Or for anyone.

“And I’m telling you now, that you are good enough. We didn’t work out, and we passed the point where we could’ve fixed things, and that’s okay. But I do love you. And I’m not going to watch you beat yourself up and lose out on another good relationship because you think for some reason that you’re not good enough for these two people. Two people who would walk a hundred miles for you barefoot, by the way.”

Wyatt walked over to her so he could throw the ruined food into the trash and package the rest up. He wasn’t sure what to say. He felt like Jess had reached into his chest and grabbed his heart and squeezed.

Jess placed her hands over his. “Are you hearing me?” she asked gently.

Wyatt looked up at her. Jess’s eyes were warm, and there was a sympathetic smile on her face. “You are good enough for them. Can I see you nod?”

Wyatt nodded.

“Good.” Jess hugged him quickly, fiercely, before stepping back to the coffee maker.

“Jess?”

“Yeah?”

Wyatt hugged her. “I don’t say it enough. But you’re my best friend.”

“I know, silly. I’ve always known.” She smiled at him. “Now, bring me the vacuum, peasant.”

Wyatt saluted. “Yes, your highness.”

But that knot of worry in his stomach didn’t quite go away.

 

* * *

 

Lucy managed to avoid talking to Flynn through singing happy birthday, and distributing the cake, and all the rest.

She could feel him practically vibrating with impatience next to her. “We should get some food for Wyatt.”

“Lucy,” Flynn growled.

“In the car,” she replied. She wasn’t having this conversation, not here where any one of her horrible family could overhear it.

He must know. She couldn’t hide how she was feeling in that kiss. She’d practically melted into him, like an idiot, and now he knew, and he was going to have to let her down, and it was going to be horribly awkward…

“So, we’re getting out of here, right?” Amy asked, texting again. “I’ve got an appointment.”

“Dare I ask what kind of appointment?” Flynn said dryly.

Amy winked at him.

“Say goodbye to Mom and we’ll go,” Lucy said.

“You say goodbye to her,” Amy shot back.

“Fine.” Lucy squared her shoulders. “I will.”

 _Act like you don’t care_ , she reminded herself. _Act like you don’t care._

“We’re heading out, Mom,” she said, walking over.

“So soon?” Mom looked disappointed, as always. Lucy wasn’t sure when she went from being so close to her mother to being a constant source of disappointment. Probably around the time that she’d learned her mom had lied to her for years and Lucy had started having a mind of her own.

“Yes, we’ve got a long drive.” Lucy forced herself to smile. “I hope you have a good night.”

Mom made a noncommittal humming noise. “Lucy… I am sorry about the tenure thing.”

Lucy shrugged. _Act like you don’t care._ “It’s just this coworker of mine, he’s got a grudge. I’ll get it soon.”

“I admit I’m surprised about… this relationship,” Mom went on. “I just—I want you to push yourself and to have the best in life, you know that. I wonder if you’re setting yourself up for success.”

“My relationship isn’t about setting myself up for success,” Lucy said. Rage boiled up in her like a volcano. “It’s about being with a person—or you know what, people for that matter—who love me.”

“People—” Mom was getting that appalled look on her face.

“You know who’s been there for me the past two years? Not you. Nothing I ever do is good enough for you. But everything that I do, Flynn praises. He thinks I’m brilliant. He thinks I’m a genius. And when I’m around him I start to think that it might actually be true. That’s more than I can say for you or any other member of this family besides Amy.”

“We are your _blood_ ,” Mom hissed. “We’re your family!”

“Family isn’t about a name or about blood, it’s about who you choose. My father isn’t Benjamin and never will be, I already had a dad that chose me and raised me and loved me. And Amy’s not my sister because we’ve got the same mom but because she makes me laugh and finds new ways to flip you all off and because she pushes me to chase after my happiness.

“And Flynn is my family—and so is Wyatt, my other roommate, who I didn’t even bring here because I was terrified of you all hurting him. What kind of family are you that I can’t bring one of my closest, best friends to meet you because I know you’ll bully him?

“He’s my family, and Flynn is my family, more than you’ve been the past few years, and more than Grandpa or anyone else will ever be.”

Lucy felt like she was breathing a little too fast and a little too shallow, but she didn’t care. She honestly, for the first time, didn’t give a fuck what her mom thought or if she didn’t look perfectly dignified and in control. She was saying what was on her mind and that was what mattered.

Mom stared at her, looking in shock, and Lucy was wondering what to do next when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder.

Flynn.

“You’ll have to excuse us,” he said, his voice low and dangerous. “I’d say it was nice to meet you, Mrs. Preston, but I try not to lie if I can help it. I’ll be taking Lucy home now.”

“Wow,” Amy said. “Great job, Mom, A plus parenting. Catch you on the flip side, yeah?”

Mom said something to Amy, something low and angry, but Flynn was already moving Lucy away and she didn’t catch what was said.

“You are never going to be around these poisonous bastards again,” Flynn hissed as he escorted her to the door. “But that was brilliant, Lucy. You told her.”

“It felt more like a breakdown,” Lucy admitted.

Flynn smiled at her, looking like she had slain a dragon or something equally courageous and daring. “Trust me, that was fantastic.”

“Bye, Emma!” Amy called as she hurried to catch up with them. “I’d say I hope you choke on it but we all know it’s too small for that! Can’t wait to see you all at the reading of the will!”

“Oh my God, Amy, get your ass out here,” Lucy hissed.

Amy gave a dramatic bow before closing the front door behind her. “I think that went well,” she said. “One of my top ten performances.”

Flynn got them to the car, silent in that way he got when he wanted to say something but was still trying to formulate how. Flynn tended to just… say things, without thinking through how they should be said, and then he’d end up insulting someone on accident or just turning the entire situation into a garbage fire.

Lucy waited until about twenty minutes in before the silence got to be too much and she couldn’t take it anymore. She felt like she was going to claw her own skin off if she had to spend another moment without saying something.

“I’m sorry.”

Flynn glanced over at her, startled. “Why are you apologizing?”

Lucy stared at him. “For… for putting you through this. For forcing you to stand up to my family while I just stood there like an idiot. For putting you in an uncomfortable position. I mean, Flynn, you had to kiss me—”

Flynn made a rough noise in the back of his throat. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“No, I do, I really do.”

“No, Lucy, you really don’t.” Flynn looked like he was in pain. “Look, you asked me… why I was here, and I—I should’ve told you sooner.”

Lucy felt like she couldn’t breathe.

Flynn looked ahead at the road, but she could see the way his hands shook slightly around the steering wheel. “I wanted to be there. I wanted to help support you. And I.” He swallowed. “It’s for you. I was there for you. I’ll always be there for you. Everything. It’s. It’s all for you.”

Lucy stared at him. It was like she’d been speeding down the highway and had to slam on her brakes, going from seventy miles an hour to zero, jolting to a stop, heart pounding, no idea what to do next.

The silence stretched on.

Amy looked out the window. “I’m just going to get out here…”

“Amy. The car is in motion.”

“I’ll take my chances with death.”

“Turn your damn music up,” Flynn snapped.

Amy jacked her music up, rolling her eyes and furiously texting. Probably Jess. Oh Lord.

Wyatt.

“I…” Lucy swallowed. “Garcia. You. But Lorena, and Iris, I thought…”

“I love them,” Flynn said easily. “I’ll always love them. But they’re gone, and they’d want me to move on and be happy. And that’s what… that’s what you make me, is happy.”

She had to tell him—but how could he want to share?

Flynn closed his eyes momentarily, as if praying for salvation. “Uh.” He cleared his throat. “Wyatt. Him too.”

Lucy stared at him. “What?” Her voice didn’t even sound like herself.

“Look, I understand that you just—that you probably—I know, how you look at him. And how he looks at you. And I’m not… I’m okay. But I thought you should know. What I did for you tonight, I’d do it all again—but I’d do it for Wyatt too, if he asked me. I’d burn the world down, if either of you asked.”

Lucy knew he was telling the truth.

Flynn had quit the FBI when a serial killer he was tracking figured out the agent who was heading his investigation.

He’d found Flynn’s home address, and murdered Lorena and Iris.

Flynn had quit the FBI the next day. About two weeks after that, the serial killer had vanished.

Lucy knew that Flynn had told Wyatt exactly what he’d done to the murderer of his family. He’d never told her, but Lucy didn’t need to know the details. She just knew that he’d made the man suffer.

If anything happened to someone Garcia Flynn loved, vengeance didn’t even begin to cover it.

The idea that his single-minded devotion—that all of that love—had somehow been bestowed on her… how could she possibly deserve it?

“Both of us?” she asked, her voice small.

Flynn nodded, still staring straight ahead. “Both of you.”

Lucy started laughing, feeling a little hysterical.

“Not exactly the reaction a man hopes for when he declares his love,” Flynn noted dryly.

“No, no, I’m sorry,” Lucy choked out. “It’s just—I’m so—I thought you’d never understand, I thought I was the only one.”

Flynn looked confused.

Lucy sighed. “Garcia. Pull over.”

As always, when she gave an order, Flynn never hesitated to obey.

Amy looked up. “Why are we stopping?”

Lucy fixed her sister with a very, very hard look. “You. Stay in the car.” She looked at Flynn. “You. Out of the car.”

Flynn scrambled to do as she asked.

Lucy got out of the car and walked down the road about ten feet, standing in the glow of the headlights. Flynn joined her a moment later.

No more damn misunderstanding. No more playing it safe. She’d just had a horrible evening, and Flynn had been her only saving grace, and dammit, she was going to take what she wanted.

She grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him in, kissing him.

Flynn stood stock still for a moment, and then he was kissing her back—and this was the kind of kiss she’d imagined him giving, desperate and all-consuming. He got an arm around her waist and hauled her up so that her feet dangled a few inches off the ground, and she held his face in her hands to kiss him better, a full-body shiver working through her as he slid his tongue into her mouth.

Then the horn went off.

“Jesus Christ!” Lucy yelped, grabbing Flynn’s shoulders and turning to glare in the direction of the car.

Flynn set her gently on the ground as Amy stuck her head out of the driver’s window. “Nobody gets to makeout if I don’t get to makeout! You’ve kissed twice tonight and I’ve got a hot date waiting for me!”

“You’re a brat and I hate you!” Lucy called back.

“Also I’d hate for Wyatt to miss out on this show,” Amy replied, before sticking her head back into the car.

Lucy looked up at Flynn. “She has a point about that.”

Flynn got a nervous look on his face. “Ah. Would… does he…”

Lucy took a deep breath. “There’s only one way to find out.”


	6. Chapter 6

Amy stayed down in the car while Lucy and Flynn went up to the apartment. “Just send Jess down to me,” she said. “I’ve seen quite enough of my sister kissing people for one day, thanks.”

She hugged Flynn goodbye first, though. “You fuck this up, I’ll kill you,” she whispered. “I’ve been watching _Hannibal_. I’ve got plenty of ideas.”

Flynn chuckled. “I’m sure of it.”

As they approached the door, he found himself turning into a bit of a mess inside.

He’d always been shit at flirting or anything like that. Lorena’d had to ask him out after spending three months waiting for him to get around to it.

And while Wyatt was bi, and Flynn knew that Wyatt loved Lucy… would Wyatt want him as well?

Lucy gave him a reassuring look, reaching out to take his hand and squeeze it the way that Flynn had squeezed her around the waist earlier.

Then she opened the front door.

Wyatt was washing some coffee mugs in the sink, turning as they entered. “Hey,” he said, sounding cautious.

Flynn frowned. “You okay?” Wyatt looked a mess.

“Yeah, fine. How was the party?”

“They were awful, as usual,” Lucy said. “Flynn was fantastic. He horrified them. Took no prisoners.”

She looked up at him with this gleeful, adoring sort of look. Had she always had that expression on her face? Had he just never seen it before?

“You should’ve seen Lucy stand up to her mom at the end,” Flynn said. “She was brilliant.”

“I’m glad,” Wyatt said, and he sounded earnest. “And, um, congratulations.”

“What?”

Then Flynn realized—he and Lucy were still holding hands.

“Wait,” he blurted out, grabbing Wyatt’s wrist. “Wyatt. Wait.”

Wyatt stared at him. God, how could he not see? How could he not know? Lucy made his heart skip a beat, but Wyatt took his breath away. Lucy was sharpness and quickness and light. Wyatt was warm, soft, aching darkness. Flynn needed both.

“We’ve had a talk,” Lucy said, speaking in that quiet, soothing voice she got when one of them was upset. “And we’ve been honest with each other. And we won’t force you one way or another. But… if you want it…”

She took in a deep, shaking breath, and glanced over at Flynn.

He could do it. He could be the one to say it, take the plunge, if that was what Lucy needed.

“We love you,” he said, looking back at Wyatt. “I told Lucy I—I loved her, but I was in love with you too, and she said the same. And we…” He glanced at her.

“If you don’t feel the same way it’s all right,” Lucy said quickly. “But we were hoping, that if you… felt the same way…”

Wyatt looked at Lucy, then at Flynn, then back at Lucy. “You… you mean this. This isn’t some kind of, I don’t know, joke?”

“Joke?” Flynn couldn’t help it. He tightened his grip on Wyatt’s wrist, tugging him in. “See if this is a joke,” he growled, right up against Wyatt’s mouth, before he kissed him.

Wyatt’s free hand grabbed Flynn’s shirt at the shoulder, twisting in the fabric, giving a tiny little moan as Flynn kissed him hard and filthy, not even pretending to be gentle about it. If Wyatt thought this was some kind of game to either of them, he was wiping that stupid idea from his mind right the hell now.

He pulled back, pleased to see a glazed look on Wyatt’s face.

Then they all heard the distinctive sound of popcorn being chewed.

Flynn turned, along with Lucy and Wyatt, to see Jess sitting there on the couch, munching on popcorn. She applauded, slowly, methodically, a few times. “Definitely worth the price of admission.”

“Jess,” Wyatt said through clenched teeth. “Get. Out.”

Jess stood up, walking over and setting the mostly-empty bowl of popcorn down. “He’s wild about you both, by the way,” she said, grinning. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a date.”

“I feel like I should be warning you off of my baby sister,” Lucy said slowly.

“I promise you I’m not doing anything to her that she hasn’t asked me to do,” Jess replied.

“So many things I didn’t need to know,” Wyatt said faintly.

“Bye bye kids, have fun, be safe!” Jess said, blowing them all a kiss and then swanning out the door.

Flynn realized he was still holding onto Wyatt and let go. “Sorry.”

“We mean it,” Lucy said quickly. “We really do. Wyatt. If you want. I never thought… having you both, it seemed greedy. Like you wouldn’t—that you wouldn’t be okay with it. But if you do—”

“I thought you wouldn’t want me,” Wyatt admitted. His voice was low and rough. “That you two were going to go off and realize how perfect you two were and leave me out of it.”

Flynn stepped to the side so that Lucy could come forward and wrap her arms around Wyatt’s neck. She kissed him once, softly. “Never,” she promised him.

“Did you—” Wyatt looked over at Flynn. “Did you really not know? I thought I was so obvious, I thought you had to see it.”

Flynn shook his head, wanting to laugh at how stupid they’d all been. “No. I was a little busy freaking out about how I thought I had no chance with either of you.”

Lucy reached out for him and Flynn went. Wherever she went, whatever she asked, he would always follow.

She took his hand and guided her arm around her waist, then did the same with Wyatt’s arm. Flynn reached out, because now he could, and put his hand at the back of Wyatt’s neck.

“There,” Lucy said softly. “This.”

Flynn couldn’t agree with her more. This.

“Jess is going to be insufferable,” Wyatt said suddenly, as if just now realizing.

“So is Amy,” Lucy admitted. “She’s been telling me to fuck you both for weeks.”

Wyatt’s cheeks went adorably pink, and Flynn grinned at him. “We can keep it PG, if you’d prefer.”

He was joking, but he meant it. When he’d had his long talk with Wyatt all those months ago, Wyatt had admitted that he’d never actually been with a guy, although he’d thought about it a hell of a lot and had come to accept it about himself. If Wyatt needed to go slow…

Wyatt shook his head, blushing even harder. “I’ve thought about this way too much to be patient.”

Lucy laughed, kissing him. “Shit like that is why I love you.”

Then Flynn heard her breath catch, as if she’d just realized what she’d said. “I love you,” she repeated, softly.

Wyatt stared at her like he’d jumped off a cliff and only just realized it. “I love you, too, Luce,” he croaked. “Since the second I saw you, I think.”

“Pretty sure I took a little longer,” Flynn mused.

“You were an ass,” Wyatt shot back, but he let Flynn brush his mouth against Wyatt’s jawline. “I don’t know if I should say it, it might give you too big of an ego.”

“Hear this, Lucy? Hear the way he talks to me? You’re lucky I love you,” he added, just in case Wyatt was unsure.

“I guess I love you too,” Wyatt grumbled, but he turned his mouth into Flynn’s, let Flynn kiss him again.

Flynn felt a tug on his hand, turned, saw Lucy holding his hand in one of hers, Wyatt’s in the other. She had a wicked smile on her face.

“My bed’s the biggest,” she said.

Wyatt flushed red again. Flynn gestured for her to lead on. “Whatever you say, Miss Lucy.”

She started to walk backwards, still holding onto their hands.

As always, Flynn followed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because you've all been so very patient.

Lucy could feel her heart beating hard in her throat as she led the boys into her room. Wyatt had a slight blush still, and Flynn looked like he’d been hit with a bright light after being in a dark room.

Perhaps he had been, metaphorically speaking.

Lucy’s bedroom was the smaller one, but she was the one with the gorgeous king sized bed that she’d splurged on. Flynn helpfully flicked on the light as they entered.

Sensing that both men were still feeling a little hesitant—probably not wanting to overstep, wanting to be respectful—she got onto the bed, then held out a hand, crooking a finger at them.

Flynn looked at Wyatt and made a sort of bowing, _you first_ motion.

Wyatt got a determined look on his face and stepped into Flynn instead, kissing him slowly. Lucy bit her lip, sliding her hand down her front as she watched them. It was the first time that Wyatt had initiated kissing Flynn, and she could see that Flynn was managing a shocked look even with his eyes closed and his mouth otherwise occupied.

They seemed to almost forget that Lucy was there for a moment, Wyatt’s hands fisted in Flynn’s shirt and Flynn’s hands gently holding Wyatt’s face.

Lucy danced her fingers up her inner thigh, sliding them underneath her dress and pressing against her clit through her underwear.

Wyatt got impatient, tugging at Flynn’s shirt and jacket, trying to get it all off with his eyes closed and without pulling away from Flynn’s mouth.

Lucy’s breath caught in her throat, pushing her underwear down and started to touch herself properly, sliding a finger inside and rubbing her thumb across her clit. She had seriously underestimated how hot the two men would look together, Wyatt finally managing to push the jacket off Flynn’s shoulders and Flynn yanking Wyatt’s t-shirt up and over his head.

A small mewl escaped her as she added a second finger and both men paused, turning to look at her. She literally saw Wyatt’s pupils go large as he watched her, and Flynn let out a growl, moving towards her.

Lucy reached out with her free hand, grabbing his tie and yanking him in to kiss him. She felt the bed dip and then felt her dress buttons down the back being undone and shivered as she realized that it was Wyatt.

She pulled back, ignoring Flynn’s noise of protest, and, keeping his tie wrapped around her hand, used her other one to gently run her fingers through his hair and push his head down until he went onto his knees.

Then she spread her legs.

Flynn’s eyes darkened and he kissed her knee, helping Wyatt slide her dress off and then gently spreading her legs farther, nuzzling his way up her thighs.

Lucy leaned back into Wyatt, tilting her head so that she could kiss him, as Flynn’s tongue dragged slowly through her folds. Her hips jerked and Flynn’s hands pressed down onto her legs, keeping her pinned as he began to slowly, so very slowly, work his tongue inside of her.

She gasped, her one hand tightening in the tie, the other one digging into Wyatt’s arm as he held her up. He was kissing his way along her neck, one of his hands working her bra off to get at her breasts. He pinched her nipple at the same moment that Flynn sucked at her clit and she moaned, her hips pushing uselessly up against Flynn’s hands.

“That’s it,” Wyatt whispered hot in her ear as Flynn’s tongue slid in and out of her. “I bet he’s like me, I bet he likes to hear you, why don’t you make a little noise for us?”

Flynn pulled back to bite at the very top of her inner thigh, and Lucy let out a surprised cry that turned into another moan as he sucked on the spot.

Wyatt hummed against her neck, pleased, then scraped his teeth along her earlobe. Then his hand tangled in her hair and _pulled_ , tugging her head back further so that he could hold her in place and kiss her, right as Flynn sucked on her clit again.

Lucy let out a sound she didn’t even know she was capable of making, gasping desperately as her legs seized and she came, her vision going blurry.

Once she got her breath back she used her grip on Flynn’s tie to pull him up onto the bed with her. Flynn seemed to like her taking control of him like this, leading him by the tie, and she set that thought aside for later. Right now, she wanted to get him naked.

Wyatt quickly got on board this ‘get Flynn’s clothes off’ idea, sliding forward and around to undo Flynn’s pants from behind as Lucy kissed him, rapidly undoing his tie and shirt and shoving them off.

Lucy pressed up against him from the front while Wyatt took the back, kissing him all over. It was a rare day that Garcia Flynn was overwhelmed, or rather let himself be overwhelmed, but this was one of those rare days. He groaned, reaching back for Wyatt, kissing every bit of Lucy that he could reach.

“What do you want?” Lucy asked, kissing Flynn just underneath his jaw and then Wyatt on the mouth.

The question was for either and both of them, but Wyatt was the one who answered. “I want to watch,” he confessed. “I want to see.”

“Then you come here,” Lucy said to Flynn, spreading her legs.

Flynn looked for a moment like he’d been hit over the head, but then he got with the program, getting his arms around her and flipping her so that she was on top and Wyatt was now behind her again.

Lucy sank down onto Flynn, having to go slow, get herself used to the feeling again. Wyatt’s arms came around her, helping her.

“I never said I was going to _just_ watch,” he whispered, tugging on her hair again to kiss her.

Lucy moaned a little. She really liked having her hair pulled, and now of course Wyatt had picked up on it and was going to abuse that knowledge shamelessly.

Flynn groaned as their hips became flush with one another and she shuddered, feeling him twitching slightly inside of her, impatient.

She took a few more deep breaths, let her body stretch and relax.

Then she started moving.

Oh, God, fuck, she’d forgotten almost how much she loved sex. Sure, of course she hadn’t really forgotten it, but remembering how good something felt and actually feeling it were two different things.

Wyatt’s mouth was on her, the heat of him behind her, until she really started to move and then he switched over to Flynn, kissing up his chest and sucking a large hickey into Flynn’s collarbone.

She could see that Wyatt was touching himself, too, enjoying watching them the way that she’d enjoyed watching the men, and fuck, it was all so much better than she’d imagined, she was hot all over in the best way and then Wyatt was behind her again and sliding his hand down to touch her clit and she couldn’t—she wasn’t—

Lucy fell forward as she came, bracing herself on Flynn’s chest, her legs shaking. She saw Wyatt coming, some of it getting onto her hand and Flynn’s side, and then she jerked as she felt Flynn starting to come as well—like dominos falling.

She rolled to the side, resting her head on Flynn’s bicep as he reached up to run a hand through his hair, his chest heaving. Wyatt sort of fell onto his side, flushed red, and allowed Flynn to pull him into his other side.

“That,” Lucy announced, “was fantastic.”

“Holy shit,” Wyatt said faintly.

“You,” Flynn told him, “have so much we’ve got to introduce you to.”

He gave Lucy a sly look, and she grinned conspiratorially.

“The bedrooms,” Wyatt said suddenly. “We’re going to have to rearrange everything.”

Lucy stared at him. “That’s what you’re thinking about?”

“I mean, I’m also thinking about learning how to give Flynn a blowjob but I figured you two were already thinking about sex so someone needs to think about logistics.”

Flynn make a choking sort of noise. “Feel free to elaborate on that first point,” he croaked.

“There’s so much to learn,” Lucy mused. “How to tease, how to deep throat, how to…”

Flynn clapped a hand over her mouth. “No making promises you can’t make good on right away.”

“I can make good on it, you two are the lazy ones who need a recovery period.”

Wyatt laughed. “She’s got you there, Garcia.”

They lapsed into silence for a few moments. Flynn was lazily tracing patterns into her side with his finger, while Wyatt held her hand across Flynn’s chest, his head on Flynn’s shoulder.

Silence had always been comfortable between them. But now it was more relaxed, none of them holding anything back anymore.

After a while, Wyatt grumbled, “We’re gonna need a shower.”

Flynn hummed, clearly not in the mood to get up.

Lucy grinned, already seeing that managing these two was going to be a full time job—and looking forward to every minute of it.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because why flip someone off with one hand when you can do it with both?

Lucy slid out of the car, grinning as Wyatt got out with a little more trepidation. “How do I look?” he asked.

“Didn’t you give me a whole lecture about asking that last time?” Lucy asked, but she brushed off his shoulders anyway.

Flynn got out next. “I don’t see Amy’s car.”

Wyatt looked over Lucy’s shoulder, frowning. “That’s odd.”

“What?”

He pointed. “That looks like Jess’s car.”

“Well, well, well,” came Amy’s voice. “Looks like we beat you.”

Lucy bit her lip as Wyatt closed his eyes, obviously praying for patience, before turning around to see Jess and Amy standing there, holding hands and grinning.

They were also wearing extremely tight, extremely short dresses.

“Oh no,” Wyatt groaned.

“If anyone asks, Jess and I met when I was the stripper at her friend’s bachelorette party, and she sells drugs,” Amy said.

“I’m almost impressed,” Flynn said.

“Listen, it’s their fault they actually believe the insane stories I come up with,” Amy said.

“And we couldn’t possibly let you three be the most scandalizing thing at the party,” Jess added. “I hear there’s a huge downstairs bathroom that’s perfect for sex.”

“Please do not have sex at my girlfriend’s grandfather’s house,” Wyatt begged.

“No, no, please do,” Lucy said. “Can we arrange for Emma to walk by?”

“Flynn,” Amy whispered as they moved as a group towards the house, “I’ll pay you twenty bucks if you make out with Wyatt in front of my grandfather.”

“Amy, I’d do that for free.”

Lucy linked her arm in Wyatt’s, kissing his cheek. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, Flynn and I will protect you.”

“I still don’t know why I said yes to this.”

“Because,” Flynn said, linking his arm with Lucy’s free one, “after this we never have to see them again but first we have to be as hedonistic as possible.”

Amy and Jess pulled ahead, getting to the house first. The door closed behind them, and then a moment later Lucy heard her mother yell “Amy!” in a completely scandalized voice.

“They were literally in the house for less than two seconds,” Wyatt said, sounding horrified.

“If they think they’re going to beat us for scandalizing,” Lucy said, feeling her competitive spirit rising, “they’ve got another think coming.”

She knocked on the front door as Wyatt muttered something about just waiting in the car.

Mom opened the door. “Lucy, did you see what your sister—”

“Sorry Mom, I’m not Amy’s keeper,” Lucy replied. “You remember Flynn, right? This is my other boyfriend, Wyatt.”

Mom stared.

“Wyatt and I are also dating,” Flynn clarified. “It’s an equal opportunity thing.”

Mom looked a rather alarming shade of pale green.

Lucy smiled, sharp and confident. “Merry Christmas!”

This was going to be amazing.

**Author's Note:**

> Lucy: WHO WANTS TO SEE MY BOYFRIENDS MAKE OUT!  
> Carol: LUCY NO  
> Lucy: LUCY YES  
> Ethan Cahill, who is definitely there: ...I could stand to hear more.


End file.
